Vehicle with container-lifting device



Sept. 15, 1964 1.. SAUER v 3,148,794

VEHICLE WITH CONTAINER-LIFTING DEVICE Filed Jan. 10, 1961 s Sheets-Sheet1 025:, ggVENTO/Q BY TTWQS.

Sept. 15, 1964 SAUER VEHICLE WITH CONTAINER-LIFTING DEVICE 3Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 10, 1961 INVENTOR $2M. BY WW Sept. 15, 1964 L.SAUER- 3,148,794

VEHICLE WITH CONTAINER-LIFTING DEVICE Filed Jan. 10, 1961 s Sheets-Sheet5 VENTOP United States Patent O 3,148,794 VEHICLE WITH CONTAINER-LHTINGDEVICE Leo Sauer, Hardthoferweg 1, Schevenhutte uher Eschweiier, KreisAachen, Germany Filed Jan. 10, 1961, Ser. No. 81,838 Claims priority,application Germany Jan. 15, 1%!) 1 Claim. (Cl. 214-394) Vehicles fortaking up and tilting a container are known in which a lifting arm ishinged to the vehicle frame and at the outer end of which a carrying armis pivoted, rockable in the same plane, which enables a container to bepicked up.

These prior proposals have dealt with comparatively small containers forexample dustbins which are to be emptied into a large container carriedon the vehicle.

The purpose of the invention is to provide a vehicle which enables largecontainers in particular for the reception of garbage such as can beused in settlements or factories to be directly set on the vehicle frameand carried over long distances, the size of the container being such asto correspond with the usual containers fixed on vehicle frames. Such acontainer may have a capacity of four cubic meters or more. At the sametime it is made possible for the vehicle with such a container to bedriven through the streets as a dustcart and for dustbins to be emptiedinto the container, the lifting devices for the container being soconstructed that it is possible during the passage of the vehicle totilt the container and thus shift the contents towards one end (suitablythe front) so that space is cleared at the other end for the receptionof further material. Known devices are provided on the container whichenable individual dustbins to be emptied without throwing up dust butwhich at the same time also make it possible to load bulky goods. Inaddition the container is to be suitable to receive material which'isshovelled and material which is stacked.

To these ends lifting arms are pivoted on the vehicle frame on eitherside of the container and carrying arms which can be rockedindependently of the lifting arms are pivoted to the free ends of thelifting arms to swing in the same plane as the lifting arms, thecarrying arms being provided with holding devices for receiving andholding the container which is preferably of substantially rectangularblock form, and controlling its attitude in the plane of swing of thelifting and carrying arms.

Both the lifting arms and the carrying arms can have a lengthapproximately equal to the load length of the vehicle and thusapproximately equal to the length of the container.

While the container can be lifted into the vehicle in a substantiallyhorizontal attitude with the above described arrangement of lifting armsand carrying arms, the possibility of operating either pair of armsindependently of the other enables the container to be tipped on an axistowards one end to effect the purpose outlined above and compact thecontents together.

This is important in the collection of garbage and material which can beshovelled. On the other hand the other pair of arms can be operatedalone so that the container can be tipped the other way and thus beemptied through the door opening through which it was filled.

In general the arms will be disposed longitudinally and oppositelydirected so that the tipping actions will be about transverse axes, theformer to compact the material towards the front end and the latter toempty the container rearwardly.

In order to keep the length of the lifting and carrying arms as short aspossible and to save height it is advisable either to terminate thevehicle frame short of the container with the lifting arms extendingrearwardly and the carrying arms forwardly or more simply to constructit as a frame open at the rear with the lifting arms extending forwardlyand the carrying arms rearwardly. Then the resulting forked frame can berun backwards to embrace the container while it is standing on theground and the latter then be lifted, it being a pre-requisite that thevehicle has no rear axle extending right across but has the wheelsindependently mounted. The vehicle can be driven either by means of aseparate Cardan shaft for each rear wheel, the differential gear beingarranged under or just behind the drivers cab, or entirely through thefront wheels.

Further features of the invention will be pointed out in the followingdescription of an example of embodiment diagrammatically illustrated inthe accompanying drawings.

FIGURE 1 is a side view of a vehicle according to the invention with thecontainer standing on the ground.

FIGURE 1a is a fragmentary perspective view of a receptacle receivingflap mounted on the rear of the container.

FIGURE 2 is a side view of the rear part of the vehicle with thecontainer lifted.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of the container.

FIGURE 4 is a detail of the container on an enlarged soa e.

FIGURE 5 is a view partly in vertical section and partly in elevationthrough the cross member, further cylinder, the channel bars, and theangle bars on the container, in which the channel bars engage the anglebars.

FIGURE 6 is a view similar to FIGURE 5 in which the channel bars aredisengaged from the angle bars, and

FIGURE 7 is a view partly in elevation and partly in cross section takenat to the components illustrated in FIGURE 5. i

The vehicle framework It as FIGURE 3 shows is of forked form and opentowards the rear. On the rear ends of the limbs 11 and 12 of the frameare steps 13 for attendants travelling on the vehicle. The rear ends ofthe limbs 11 and 12 are carried upwardly and have bearings 14- each fora forwardly extending swinging, lifting arm 15 which can be rocked bythe aid of a pressure fluid cylinder 16, conveniently a hydrauliccylinder, and the length of which corresponds approximately to the loadlength of the vehicle. To the free ends 17 of these lifting arms arepivoted rearwardly extending carrying amns 18, both the lifting arms andthe carrying arms being so angled that the former lie more or lessmidway between the carrying arms which are above, and the limbs of thevehicle frame. The carrying arms can be rocked in relation to thelifting arms by the aid of cylinders 19 which engage between the liftingarms and the carrying arms. The length of the carrying arms correspondto that of the lifting arms and is thus approximately equal to the loadlength. At the center of the carrying arms a cross member 20 locatedabove the container, unites the arms and provides stiffness in torsion.On the cross member 20 is arranged a further cylinder 21 (FIGURE 3)which operates by means not shown, a spreading device consisting in thisexample of two channel bars 23 arranged on either side of the verticaltransverse midplane with their webs vertical and with their flangesdirected outwardly, their upper flanges being pivoted at 22 to the crossmember 20. The lower flanges engage under the inwardly directedhorizontal flanges of angle bars 24 on the container 25, which areparticularly clearly shown in FIG- URE 4. This arrangement not onlysupports the container from the carrying arms but also, prevents thecontainer from tipping in the longitudinal plane in relation to thecarrying arms so that the movements ofthe arms control not only thelevel of the container but also its attitude and enable it to be tippedforward or backward by appropriate operation of the lifting and carryingarms.

At the free end of one of the carrying arms 18 a cylinder 26 is providedwhich can rock a flap 27 which closes an opening 29 provided in theupper part of the rear wall 28 of the container 25 (FIGURE 4), thisopening also being closable by a door 30 but which when the container islifted for carrying away can be swung downwardly. The opening 29 isclosed by the door 30 when the container is not on the vehicle but hasbeen set down say in a position for use on the ground. Bulky goods forwhich the dust free charging opening described below would be too smallcan be put in through this opening 29. Also with the flap 27 open,material which can be shovelled such as leaves, saw-dust or the like canbe put into the container. The container 25 is of rectangular block formso that a number of containers can be conveniently stacked one onanother which can be effected for example by the aid of the vehicleitself, the containers of an upper row being staggered in relation tothose below and all the containers being spaced so that the angle bars24 do not hinder satisfactory stacking.

The flap 27 has known devices shown in FIGURE 1a for receiving anddust-free emptying of dustbins. The opening 29 is in the upper part ofthe rear wall and at such a height that children cannot be burdened withthe task of carrying garbage for emptying. The door 30 has small forexample circular openings which are sufiiciently large to enable garbageto be emptied in through them and which can be closed by covers whichcan be held closed or open at will by means of spring or rubber catches,not shown.

The whole rear wall 28 can be pivoted at will about its upper edge 31 orits lower edge 32 and on both edges is provided with bolts 33 which areshown on a larger scale in FIGURE and which at will can function asbolts or as hinges, in order to enable the whole wall to be moved out ofthe way, for example for sack trolleys to be run into the container andthe container to be loaded with stacked material or toenab-leathecontainer to be emptied and cleansed. On the flap 27 two hooks 33 arepivoted which as FlGURE 2 shows can be engaged in corresponding eyes onthe rear wall 28 so that the latter can be lifted, in order by operatingonly the cylinder 16 and thus operating only the lifting arms 15, toempty the container rearwardly.

It will be seen from FIGURE 5, the manner in which the channel bars 23which constitute part of the spreading devices, engage the angle bars 24on the container 23 when the container is in a position to betransported from one place to another. FIGURE 6 illustrates the positionwhich the channel bars 23 occupy when such bars are withdrawn fromengagement with the angle bars to release the container 25.

More particularly, FIGURES 5-7 illustrate the further cylinder 21provided with piston rod 34 and the spreading devices. The spreadingdevices are defined by two levers 35 and 35' which are pivoted to therespective channel bars 23 at one of their ends and a bell crank lever36 is pivoted as shown at 37 to the cross member 29 and cooperates withthe piston rod 34 and the levers 35 and 35'. A recuper-ator spring 33 isprovided between the levers 35 and 35', as clearly illustrated inFIGURES S and 6.

I claim:

A vehicle adapted to pick up, transport, tilt and deposit containerscompnising a generally U-shaped frame including a pair of spacedrearwardly extending frame members, a pair of lifting arms eachpivotally connected at one end to the free end of each of said framemembers, a pair of carrying arms each pivotally connected at one end tothe free end of each of said lifting arms, means mounted on saidcarrying arms adapted to removably hold a container positioned betweensaid rearwardly extending frame members, first fluid motor means topivot said lifting arms relative to said vehicle frame, and second fluidmotor means to pivot said carrying arms relative to said lifting armsand said vehicle frame, said container being receivable between saidpair of spaced rearwardly extending frame members, angle bar memberssecured to said container, said holding means operable to removablyengage said angle bar members whereby said container is lifted when saidlifting arms are pivoted relative to said frame and when said carryingarms are pivoted relative to said lifting arms.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,547,269 Kinsey Apr. 3, 1951 2,606,674 Edwards Aug. 12, 1952 2,672,247Iewett Mar. 16, 1954 2,693,288 Black Nov. 2, 1954 2,934,228 HillbergApr. 26, 1960 2,963,185 Jones -n Dec. 6, 1960 3,024,931 Grover Mar. 13,1962

